


Pet Me

by redpandaaaaaaa



Category: GOT7
Genre: Catboy BamBam, Eventually jikook, Fluff, M/M, Yugyeom doesnt know how to adult, catboy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-04-04 08:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14016723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redpandaaaaaaa/pseuds/redpandaaaaaaa
Summary: Yugyeom is fresh out of college and on his way to being a fully functioning member of society. It's just that,  we'll,  he's kind of lonely.  But that can be fixed by a visit to the local animal shelter.  Little did he know that his new companion might be too much to handle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Double posted of aff as well under Red_Panda (Das me)
> 
> Also this is actually the first couple chapters on aff unbetad and unorganized...I'll fix it later

Yugyeom slumped down on his couch, exhausted after moving all his things into his new apartment. His first year out of college and he'd already made a name for himself out in the world. Well not exactly, but he did have a good job, one that paid for his one bedroom, one bath apartment equipped with an average sized living room with a tiny kitchen attached. It was all hardwood with the exception of his carpeted bedroom and linoleum tile bathroom. The walls were a boring beige and Yugyeom really needed to start decorating soon. He had friends, the best of which actually helped him move in (but mostly because he might have told Jackson that his neighbor was smoking hot without actually seeing the person). Fortunately, Jackson being the jock he is thought that lifting heavy boxes and furniture over three flights of stairs was the perfect way to attract the attention of singles in the area. Yep, Yugyeom pretty much had it made. The house, the job, a sidekick, but he couldn't help but feel a little alone in his new adult-world. Like a mall nagging feeling in the back of his mind reminding him that when Jackson went home he'd be alone. 

"You should just get a dog or something," Jackson advised Yugyeom after the younger had confessed his sentiments. 

"But aren't dogs loud?" Yugyeom whined as he plopped down on his couch next to Jackson, kicking boxes out out of out of the way, "I don't want to get in trouble with the neighbors. "

"Oh, you mean that-and I quote- 'smoking hot' eighty year old next door," Jackson raised an accusing eyebrow at the other.

"Mrs.Choi is not eighty. And I never said which neighbor, " Yugyeom quickly defended, head lifting from the brown leather armrest of his couch.

"Yeah well until I see the other one I'm not letting you live this down. Man, I got a hyped up for a prune..." Jackson muttered the last part somewhat begrudgingly. 

 

“I'm pretty sure hull live hyung.” Yugyeom rolled his eyes before standing up alone linen ordering Jackson to help him unpack and organize. 

They worked for a while until Jackson expressed the need to get home. Yugyeom walked his friend to the so or to see him out.Coincidentally, it seemed right as Jackson was leaving Yugyeom's apartment that his not-a-prune neighbor was getting home.

"Oh, hey. You're my new neighbor, right?"

Yugyeom looked up to see dyed red hair and a sparkling smile, "Uh, yeah," was all he could say, blinded by the handsome man in front of him.

"I'm Mark Tuan, " the redhead introduced, holding out a hand for the other to shake.

"Kim Yugyeom, " Yugyeom replied and shook Mark's hand," and this is my friend Jackson. "

Jackson held out his hand to shake Mark's. The men exchanged firm handshakes and separated with an unsubtle wink from Jackson. 

"Well it's nice to meet you guys." Mark nodded at them in goodbye before entering his own apartment. 

"Dude," Jackson smacked Yugyeom's arm incessantly. 

"Ow!Hyung!" Yugyeom yelped, jerk in away from the Chinese man.

"Your neighbor is totally hot."

Yugyeom sighed and shook his head, quickly returning to his apartment and locking the door.  
\-------------------------------------------------

Yugyeom had officially given up on Jackson. He had tried to expel his loneliness by inviting the other over when he was off work, but instead he was plagued by a spacey Jackson who had only one thing on his mind. Apparently, Jackson was already head over heels for Yugyeom’s neighbor whom he only talked to for about two seconds, Mark “the hot one, not the prune idiot.” Jackson would agree to come over just as an excuse to catch a glimpse of MArk or try and coax him out of his apartment next door. So Eventually, Yugyeom stopped calling /jackson over and decided to at least try Jackson's suggestion of getting a dog. He already checked with the landlord, neighbors and about half the people on his floor. The consensus was that a dog was OK, as long as wasn’t noisy and sufficiently potty trained. Which left Yugyeom to catch a bus to the closest animal shelter.  
As soon as Yugyeom walked into the small shelter, he was overpowered by the smell of wet dog and lysol. Dogs could be heard barking from some backroom and there were kids whining to their parents as they exited the semi-busy shelter.

'Oh my god. What have I got myself into,' Yugyeom grimaced at the chaotic enviorment. 

"Wow, you look really out of your element." Yugyeom turned to see a black haired boy holding dog treats in one hand and a dog leash in the other (no dog attached thankfully).

"Uh, yeah. I guess," Yugyeom rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. 

"I'm Choi Young jae, " the boy hung the leash over his shoulder and wrapped his now free hand across Yugyeom's shoulders, despite the obvious height difference, "And I shall be your guide to about 20 years of fur filled fun."

"Uh-huh..." Yugyeom nodded, a little creeped out by the odd worker.

"So my friend, what is it that you're looking for?" Youngjae asked as he guided the taller to the backroom.

Yugyeom flinched at the echoing noise of dogs barking," A dog, I guess."

"Mkay, well we have those." Youngjae rolled his eyes before adding,"You’re gonna need to be a bit more specific."

"Honestly, I have no clue. I've never had a dog before," Yugyeom confessed as Youngjae pulled the other in front of a random dog cage.

"OK. So is there any thing you know you want? Like a curly dog, big, small?" Youngjae asked sticking his fingers through the wire of the dog door as a large dog bounced over.

"A small dog, probably. I mean. I live in a small apartment so..." Yugyeom trailed off, giving the excited dog an unconcious look of terror.

"I can see that, “ Youngjae deadpanned, “This room mostly has the big dogs, let's go across the hall to something more your style." Youngjae gestured to the door and the two walked to the next room.

"So here's the small dogs. Some are puppies so don't get your hopes up," Youngjae warned as they entered the quieter room (albeit the barks were much higher pitched and more annoying).  
Yugyeom walked around and looked at the dogs, occasionally sticking a finger on the cage to pet one.  
"Are they all so loud? I don't really want to bother my neighbors..." Yugyeom asked looking up from a rather affectionate pomeranian. 

"You know, you don't really seem like a dog person to me." Youngjae frowned, "Ever thought about getting a cat?"

"A cat?" Yugyeom repeated, blinking innocently at the suggestion. 

"Yeah, and for a first time pet owner they're pretty good. You don't have bathe them or comb them. Some cats can be vocal, but most are pretty quiet. Plus you won't have worry about taking it outside ten times a day to go to the bathroom."Youngjae informed with a smile, “Most of the time they dont even need to be potty trained.”

"But aren't cats mean? My aunt's cat pretty much ignores my existence and hisses at me anytime I try to pet it," Yugyeom cringed at the thought of the angry brown cat.

"Well it all depends on the cat. Some can be really friendly and cuddly," Youngjae smiled, " Come on. Let's at least have a look at some."  
Youngjae led the other out of the dog room and into the hallway. They turned to the left and entered through a door decorated with the silouhettes of cats.  
Once through the door, Youngjae spoke, " Welcome to the cat room, filled with the perfect resolution to lonely days in a one bedroom apartment."

Yugyeom grimaced at the truth of Youngjae's statement.

"Go ahead. Take a look around,I will be over here if you need anything," Youngjae smiled and ushered the boy forwards.

Yugyeom follow the other's directions and walked into the room. Laying on the floor in a big E shape were cages stacked three atop each other, all filled with cats. He was surprised by the silence in the room. Though, there were a few cats meowing from their cages, most seemed rather quiet. It was practically music to his ears. Yugyeom bent down to look at the bottom row of cages on the wall closest to him. There were a few cute cats, some more excited to be seen than others, but one seemed to catch his eye. It was a small white-blonde cat, who sat in the very back of his cage, sleeping soundly. Looking at the clipboard attached to the front of his cage, Yugyeom read the short bio and information about the cat.  
"Why is his name BamBam?" Yugyeom asked quietly, not wanting to wake the cat.  
"Eh, maybe you should look around more. Hey, here's a cute kitty who's perfect for apartment life and look: she likes to cuddle,"  
Youngjae lifted the clipboard off the cage as if Yugyeom could read it across the room.

"OK," Yugyeom quirked an eyebrow at the other before shuffling away from BamBam's cage and looking through some others.

When he had looked at all the cats in the room, he turned to Youngjae and asked," Is BamBam up for adoption?"

"Well yes but-"

"But what?" Yugyeom interrupted, returning to the blond cat's cage and poking a finger through the bars in an attempt to touch the cat.

"Well, you see-uh..." Youngjae shifted on his feet nervously. 

"What is it?" Yugyeom turned away from the cat to give Youngjae an indignant look.

"OK. Truth be told, he's been returned often. No one seems to know why, but apparently he's very... destructive. Hence, the name BamBam," Youngjae sighed and stooped down next to Yugyeom, only to yelp when the cat jumped up at smacked the cage.

"Bam, bam," Yugyeom chuckled as the cat batted at the door twice, "I like him."

"OK then..." Youngjae gave Yugyeom a pensive look before motioning to the door, “ Adoption papers are at the front. I'll get the cat...eep, " Youngjae squeaked as he tried open up BamBam’s cage.

"See you at the front..." Youngjae gurgled as he reached for the cat.

\-------

It was only when Yugyeom had parked in front of a large chain pet store that he finally realized that he had no idea how to care for a cat, let alone another living thing. Never had Yugyeom felt so intimidated in his life.

"OK. So do I take you inside? Or not..." He turned to ask the blonde cat only to find him sleeping soundly in his carrier.

"Oh uh, yeah. Just, uh, stay. There. Good cat," Yugyeom cringed at himself, questioning his own sanity.

'Why am I even talking to a cat?'  
Walking into the store was the easy part. The automatic doors opened with a slide, showcasing a wide room with tall industrial ceilings and concrete floors. Upon stepping inside, Yugyeom was bombarded by bright cheery colors displaying toys and name brands. Photoshopped dogs and cats and birds and 'please tell me that's a lizard' smiled off various signs and items. He glanced around with wide eyes, frozen in place by the sheer mass of the store.

"Holy crap how am I going to do this?" Yugyeom asked himself quietly.

Feeling more like he was in Ikea rather than Petsmart, he reluctantly followed the directional signs with kittens printed on them.

"When was pet shopping actually this hard?" Yugyeom muttered begrudgingly to himself as he looked up, down and across the shelves of cat supplies that was taller than him. He sighed and pulled out the list of things he needed, graciously given to him by Youngjae.  
1.Food  
"Food,"Yugyeom read aloud.  
Shouldn't be too hard, right?  
Wrong. Wrong. He was so wrong. The cat food was in its own aisle. Two rows of shelves, lined top to bottom with brand after brand of cat food, kitten food, old cat food, obese cat food, all kinds of cat food. 

“Holy crap. That's a lot of cat food." Yugyeom stood in awe at rows and rows of food beside him.

Believing it would be best to start somewhere, Yugyeom shuffled to the beginning of the shelf to his left. There lay big brand name bags that advertised healthier adult cats. Farther down, the same brand and advertising sat on the shelf with the exception of being for "kittens". Yugyeom checked the price before wincing and retracting his hand. Much, much too expensive for a lowly office worker. He continued further until he found the bargain brand foods and lesser expensive brand names. Yugyeom couldn't really decide which to get, so he grabbed a random bag from the shelf before speed walking out of the isle.  
" OK. So that's over with," Yugyeom wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead, "Now the next thing..."  
"2.Litter Box, " Yugyeom mumbled off the list absent-mindedly.  
Luckily for him, Yugyeom had managed to wander into the correct isle. He easily grabbed an acceptable box and some extra litter mix, all the while trying to not get creeper out by the creative designs of other products (THERE'S ONE THAT FLUSHES. IT FREAKING FLUSHES!).  
Three was a bit harder to understand.  
"A bed? Why would he need his own bed? Can't he just sleep on the couch? " Yugyeom asked himself. Unfortunately there were other people in the isle that were giving him questioning looks.  
"Ah, sorry," he bowed politely before walking off in search of beds.  
After searching through the aisle, he figured he'd just give BamBam a pillow. Hey, he's not cheap, just practical.  
4\. Toys.  
'That should be easy,' Yugyeom thought to himself,'Then again didn't I say that with the cat food?"  
When Yugyeom came upon the cat toy aisle he was faced with the same challenges as the food isle. However, learning from the previously mentioned incident, he quickly found a couple random, discounted toys and rushed to the checkout line, foregoing the final item on the list. After all, aren't collars for dogs?  
The lady at the checkout line rang up his items with a polite smile and phrase. Yugyeom paid with his credit card, feeling content with the amount he spent. Taking his bags he exited the store only to be met with his car alarm shrieking in the distance.  
" Crap. "  
Yugyeom ran (more like shuffled with all of his purchases in his hands) to his car. He somehow managed to free his keys without dripping anything. Dumping his bags unceremoniously into his trunk, Yugyeom quickly silenced the alarm before running to the driver's side door...which was locked. Confused Yugyeom paced around his car to find that the passenger side door was slightly ajar.  
" Huh,"Yugyeom huffed,"Maybe the alarm scared them o-crap." Yugyeom looked down into his car to find the cage which once held his new cat empty and door wide open.  
"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcraaaaaap, "Yugyeom panicked, "BamBam! BamBam!? Here kitty kitty kitty!"  
Yugyeom jumped into his car searching the back seats for the cat. Turning upside down, backwards, and twisting into positions that would make a contortionist jealous, Yugyeom frantically searched everywhere in the back of the car. Cursing when the search came up empty, Yugyeom hopped out of the car and fell against the pavement.  
" BamBam. Here kitty kitty," Yugyeom stuck his head underneath the car and squirmed a hand around as if it would help find the cat.  
Suddenly, a small meow sounded from above him. Yugyeom urgently shuffled out from under the car, bumping his head in his hurry.  
" Ow, " Yugyeom whined, hand clutching his head and body still crouched on the ground.  
"Mrow. "  
Yugyeom looked up to see a blonde tail flicking out from under the passenger seat.  
" What the..." Yugyeom looked closer then exclaimed, "BamBam! "  
Yugyeom immediately reached out to the cat, wishing to dislodge it from under the seat, but it seemed BamBam had other plans. The cat hissed and batted it's paws at the boy and squished itself farther under the seat.  
"Oh come on, BamBam. You'll get hurt under there," Yugyeom tried talking to the cat.  
BamBam hissed in reply.  
" OK, so maybe Youngjae was right. You are a bit much to handle...b u t I can't return you. Can I?" Yugyeom asked himself.  
It seemed as if BamBam had understood Yugyeom's thoughts because the cat immediately ran out from under the seat and hopped over the barrier between the front seats and back seats and sat patiently in the back seat next to his carrier.  
" Uh..."Yugyeom stared at the cat at a loss of words,"Um. OK. Thanks?"  
Yugyeom then got up and closed the door, walked around the car, and eased into the driver's seat.He sat there for a moment and looked through the center mirror to see BamBam, now laying down in the seat.  
"OK, homeward we go."  
*************************************************************  
Yugyeom was careful when he opened the back door of his car when he got back to his apartment building. He had made sure that he could see BamBam throughout the entire ride there. The blonde cat was still lying in the back seat, now staring at Yugyeom with a condescending expression (at least that what he assumed).  
" Alright BamBam. I need you to nicely get in your cage so we can go inside,"Yugyeom spoke slowly and quietly as he reached out for the cat, trying to seem as non threatening as possible.  
BamBam's ears twitched as the boy and his tail flicked lightly. When Yugyeom's hands touched the cat's soft fur, he hissed causing Yugyeom to jerked back.  
" OK ok. No touching," Yugyeom raised his hands in the classic 'I didn't do anything' pose,"Let's try something else then..."  
Yugyeom crawled into the back seat and closed the door behind him. Taking the crate, Yugyeom held the door open and faced the entrance towards the cat. Slowly he inched the opening towards the cat laying in the seat. BamBam yowled angrily as the edge of the cage slipped under his foot. Yugyeom quickly shoved the rest of the cage under the cat, apologizing profusely under his breath, and all but slammed the end against the other car door.  
"OK, ok. I'm sorry. OK now I'm going to close the cage. Don't try to run out," Yugyeom informed himself more than the cat.  
BamBam just meowed angrily from inside the cage.  
Yugyeom quickly pulled the cage back and pushed to door closed after struggling with the locking system.  
"So I guess I'll take you in first then I'll get your stuff," Yugyeom informed as he exited the car with cat-in-crate in tow.  
Yugyeom entered the building through the lobby and walked straight to the stairs. Taking two at a time(simply because his legs are that long), he walked up the steps careful not to jostle BamBam in his crate. He had reached the end of his third flight of steps when he turned and exited the stairwell. Yugyeom's apartment was located at the end of the hallway where the building bends to form another hall. His apartment happened to be the awkward on in the corner, which he actually liked for its irregularities.  
Yugyeom entered his apartment and placed BamBam (crate and all) on the coffee table in his weirdly shaped living room. He crouched down and got eye level with the cage.  
" OK, I'm gonna let you out now. Don't run off. Please," Yugyeom commanded less assertively than he would have liked.  
He sighed and pushed on the two knows above and below the lock. The springs made a cringe worthy squeak and the door shifted when the mechanism came free of the lock. Yugyeom pulled the door back and was immediately faced with a ball of flying fur.  
" YAHH!" Yugyeom yelled angrily as he was knocked backwards and claws latched in his hair.  
BamBam quickly scurried off the giant as soon as his back hit the floor, opting to further his lifespan and hide under the couch.  
"BamBam! "

BamBam proved to be quite a handful. Destructive? Check. Anger problems? Ask Yugyeom's old bed spread. Attention hog? Yugyeom can't even have phone conversations anymore because BamBam will yowl until the human pays attention to him. Separation anxiety, oh yeah. Only a week after getting BamBam and the cat had destroyed nearly half of Yugyeom's apartment. He had even tried to follow the man to work once. Not to mention the cold shoulder Yugyeom gets when he returns home because the cat is so dang full of himself that he believes everyone should follow his will ( but the cat will cave in after an hour or two, preferring to have all eyes on him). Did he mention he can't watch TV anymore? Oh yeah, he can't.  
He tried to get Jackson to watch BamBam occasionally. After the first day Jackson refused to ever go back to Yugyeom's apartment ever again. None of his other acquaintances were either close enough or had the time, so that left Mark, whom BamBam seemed to hate the least. Not that BamBam particularly liked Mark. He just didn't try to draw his blood. But this is only coming from the few times Mark had been over to his apartment. Every since the "He ate my shoes while they were on my feet" incident with Jackson the Chinese male asserted that the three of them meet in Mark's apartment (but that could be an excuse to get closer to the red head). Now, Yugyeom didn't know what Mark did for a living, but he did know that he worked from home. And that was hope enough.  
So after begging, a promise of Jackson's WANG snapback and 852 jersey (stolen from the older's closet in the middle of the night), and more begging Mark finally agreed. Since then Mark would get up in the morning, walk ten steps to Yugyeom's door in pajamas and his laptop tucked under his arm, and proceed to let himself in and settle on the younger's couch. All while Yugyeom ate breakfast before work.  
”Morning hyung," Yugyeom shouted from the kitchen.  
Although the front door was blocked from his view by a wall he could tell the other had entered by two things: 1. He heard the door, 2.BamBam stopped using one of his wooden chairs as a scratching board and immediately ran to Yugyeom and rubbed his face on his leg affectionately. Yugyeom scowled as the cat left little white hairs on his black slacks.  
" How come you're only nice to me when I either feed you or Mark us over?" Yugyeom asked the cat warily, dropping his chopsticks in order to scratch BamBam behind the ears (which he was only allowed to do when BamBam wanted).  
" Sup, Yug? " Mark greeted as he entered the kitchen. "Hello, kitty cat," Mark said cutely while bending down to pet BamBam.  
" Thanks for coming over hyung,"Yugyeom smiled as he watched BamBam begrudgingly let Mark pet him,"I don't know what I'd do without you."  
" Aw, thanks cutie," Mark cooed and ruffled Yugyeom's hair, which had BamBam hissing and batting at Mark's legs until the man stepped away from Yugyeom.  
" Ouch, calm you guard dog," Mark joked and put his hands up in the air as if directed by the police.  
"Sorry, hyung. He won't even let my little cousin hug me," Yugyeom sighed and bent over to pick up BamBam.  
BamBam purred once in the man's lap and kneaded his claws into his legs.  
" Ow, ow, ow...BamBam quit!" Yugyeom winced and pulled at the cat.  
BamBam hissed but stopped and settled into Yugyeom's lap before proceeding to meow until Yugyeom began to pet him.  
" Wow. Possessive, sassy, and an attention hog. Nice one you got there Yug.," Mark remarked (haha rhymes).  
The red head raised his eyebrows at the cat before sitting in another chair at Yugyeom's table.  
"Ugh, you sound like Jackson. He's been influencing you too much. Stop talking to him,"Yugyeom whined.  
" Oh don't worry. He doesn't get to talk much when you're not around," Mark smirked as he booted up his laptop.  
"Ew! Oh my god hyung!" Yugyeom exclaimed and buried his face in BamBam's fur.  
" Hey. No shame in what we do. Plus, it's so-"  
" Stop! Oh my god, I'm going to barf on BamBam! " Yugyeom wailed through the cat.  
BamBam jerked out from under Yugyeom and ran to Yugyeom's bedroom instead, leaving Yugyeom to glare broken heartedly after the cat.  
"Hey," Mark spoke nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just corrupted Yugyeom's mind, "You should probably get to work now."  
" Eh?" Yugyeom looked at his watch,"Crap ok. Bye hyung."  
Yugyeom threw his plate into the sink and grabbed his messenger bag before moving towards the door. He shouted goodbye to BamBam as he ran past his room and waved once more to Mark. Mark turned back to his computer as he heard the lock click from outside. He toggled with a few things on his computer before picking it up and moving to the couch. Not long after the door to Yugyeom's bedroom opened and out came a gangly boy with light blonde hair.  
Mark heard the footsteps behind him and spoke from the couch,"You know this whole 'Get rid of the competition' thing isn't really working BamBam."  
"Sure it is," BamBam, now in human format, disagreed, " The man-dog never comes over now, but that tiny human still climbs over my human whenever it comes over with that loud one that likes to man handle me..."  
" Wow,"Mark said in awe, turning away from his computer for the first time, "You are something else..." He continued shaking his head.  
BamBam shrugged and plopped down on the couch next to Mark. Mark just stated at the boy for a moment. The young catboy was wearing one of Yugyeom's shirts. Yugyeom having broader shoulders and a longer torso than BamBam made it look like BamBam was swimming in the black t-shirt. BamBam had pretty long legs on his own, but not so much compared to his owner, making the borrowed pair of boxers longer than usual.  
" You need to tell him soon so you can get your own clothes. He'll notice the extra laundry, you know,"Mark commented,"That and start being nice to him so he won't throw you out when he finds out."  
"Ha,"BamBam scoffed, " I'll tell him when you tell the dog-man."  
Mark rolled his eyes at his computer screen,"First off: his name is Jackson, AND he is not a dog. He's a human, and a hot one at that. Plus, what is there to tell him?"  
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe that you're a hybrid?" BamBam sassed.  
" Yeah, I'm half cat. Not whole like you, so I don't have the tail-" Mark asserted this by flicking BamBam's tail off his leg, "nor the ears." Mark pinched the blonde cat ears protruding from the younger's head.  
" I got the teeth and the senses, that's it. It's not like I hide it. Jackson just thinks I'm a vampire...maybe I should tell him," Mark finished with a sigh.  
" A vampire? Really? Now I know he's stupid," BamBam laughed.  
" Whatever, " Mark growled and pushed BamBam off the couch,"At least I'm not some free loading werecat."  
" Excuse you, I do not transform into some ugly beast every full moon,"BamBam hissed from the floor,"How dare-"  
Suddenly the door opened and Yugyeom stumbled inside.  
"Hey Mark I left my lunch," Yugyeom informed while looking down at his shoes as he tied them off.  
BamBam and Mark met surprised gazed. BamBam flailed around as Mark threw a pillow over his head hissing "Change!" under his breath. The blonde boy seemed to disappear for a moment, leaving only a pile of clothes. Mark dropped the pillow over the clothes right as Yugyeom looked up.  
"Sorry," Yugyeom apologized as he walked behind the couch.  
"Uh, no problem man,"Mark choked out,"It's your house."  
Mark watched Yugyeom enter the kitchen before yanking the pillow off BamBam. He jerked the shirt off BamBam ( which had the cat yowling angrily) and shoved it and the boxers under the couch.  
"Was that BamBam? " Yugyeom called from the kitchen.  
"Uh, yeah. The stupid cat ran into the wall-ouch," Mark hissed the last part because BamBam clawed at his ankle.  
" Is he ok?" Yugyeom asked, walking around the corner.  
"Yeah he's cool see?" Mark smiled and picked up the cat who hissed and yowled, struggling in Mark's grip.  
" Uh, ok...I'm going now. Be back at five," Yugyeom said and exited the apartment.  
Mark sighed and dropped BamBam once the door closed," Phew, that was close."  
" What was that about telling him?" BamBam asked a ferocious he transferred bodies.  
" Shut up. It has to be the right time,"Mark smacked the younger,"Ew. Put some clothes on. "  
" Whatever.I'm going to take a nap," BamBam stood up and walked (naked) to Yugyeom's bedroom," Don't bother me until Yugyeom comes home."  
" Fine, I'll wake you up before he gets here,"Mark conceded and went back to working on his computer.  
\------------------------------------------------------I_________________________  
Another week later and BamBam and Yugyeom's relationship was improving. BamBam had decided to take Mark's advice and start being nice to Yugyeom. He quit destroying furniture and started following Yugyeom around (although he did that before). Now he snuggled up to the human whenever he sat down. He let Yugyeom watch TV a little, but he still stopped him often so that he could get attention himself. Eventually though, he got tired of being a cat in front of the human. He was a growing catboy and he had his needs. Sure he liked getting petted but the cat food was disgustingly bland and he really wanted to shower and go shopping and eat and flirt with boys and wear super tight skinny jeans that made his human butt look fan-freaking-tastic. Suffice to say: it was time, even if Mark didn't like how he was going to do it. 

Needless to say Yugyeom was pretty shocked when he came home to a complete stranger wearing his clothes and lounging on his couch was cat ears and a tail. And no. He did not faint. 

Yugyeom would have to say today was the worst day of his life. OK so maybe he was exaggerating. The only problems were that his work day was super stressful, it was storming like crazy, said storm turned the power out and so his office was unable to work, so they let everyone go home early, but it was rain really hard and the stoplights weren't working and it was raining and Yugyeom nearly peed his pants twice because there are in fact idiots in this world. So in short, it was a hectic day. All he wanted to do was go home, lay down on his couch and maybe cuddle with BamBam. After all, he seemed to be in a good mood lately.  
So, a soon-to-be soaking wet Yugyeom ran from his car into his building, sloshed up the stairs and trudged to his apartment, which had finally regained power. Only to find a complete stranger sitting on his couch. He'd like to believe that he did not scream and pass out like Mark said, but it's all semantics.  
"Yugyeom, hey. Yug, you there buddy?"  
Yugyeom slowly blinked away the blurry from his vision. He came face to face with his redhead neighbor basked in shadows. Lightning flashed outside and he was able to make out the color of Mark's hair for a split second.  
" Hey man. The power went out again,"Mark informed.  
" OK, "Yugyeom groaned and slowly sat up,"Man I just had the craziest-" Yugyeom stopped short at the sight of the same clothing-stealing-cat-eared-but-kinda-cute stranger sitting at the end of the couch, in between Yugyeom's legs.  
Yugyeom did not scream.Really he didn't. He sat there staring blankly at the boy situated in between his legs.  
" Mark..." Yugyeom spoke cautiously, " What is this..."  
BamBam scoffed at Yugyeom's choice of words, "I'm the queen of-"  
" THIS,"Mark spoke over BamBam, "Is your cat. BamBam. Just, he's not actually a cat. He's a catboy: a creature, for lack of a better word, that has the ability to change forms between human and cat."  
Lightning flashed again.  
"Uh-huh, " Yugyeom nodded, " Um. OK."  
"You ok there?"BamBam asked, actually concerned for his owner. The boy slid over so that he was hovering over Yugyeom's lower half with his hands on either side of the human's hips and face almost level with Yugyeom's.  
" Uh," Yugyeom repeated dumbfounded.  
BamBam, or so Mark had said, definitely didn't look like his cat. Sure his hair was the same blonde and he had some pretty realistic looking ears, but he couldn't be his cat...could he? His eyes roamed over the boy that was practically on top of him. He had thick white-blonde hair that matched BamBam's fur, even more so the pair of pointed cat ears that sat atop his head. His skin tone was tanner than he would have thought, that is if he actually thought of what his cat would look like as a person. Although, the most convincing similarity (at least face-wise) was the boy's eyes; deep brown eyes with a hard edge, like BamBam's eyes looked like they were always watching, always judging, and always superior.  
More lighting illuminated the boy above him, flashing in his cat-like eyes.  
" Crap. You are my cat, aren't you?" Yugyeom gasped, eyes roaming the boy (who looked pretty good in Yugyeom's oversized t-shirt).  
BamBam, if that was even his name, quirked an eyebrow at Yugyeom's revelation. Yugyeom tried to tell himself that, no, he did not just see the judging glint in 'BamBam's' eyes.  
"Yup, well...I'm gonna leave and let you two get acquainted with each other, " Mark piped in as he slowly inched towards the door,"You two obviously have a lot to talk about so I'll just be next door..."  
Yugyeom barely registered the slamming door and Mark making his quick getaway. Distracted by the close distance of his pet-and that was odd to think of now, considering his pet is now a person- Yugyeom couldn't tear his eyes away from the boy, namely his cat features.  
"This isn't real," Yugyeom muttered under his breath.  
" Do I need to slap you to make it real?" BamBam suddenly asked,"Because I can."  
" Ah-no, no. Ok, I'm good. I'm good, "Yugyeom replied more to himself than his...cat...boy (?).  
BamBam's eyes flitted over his owner's face, noticing the overwhelmed state of Yugyeom. BamBam sighed and shifted his position so that he was now sitting in Yugyeom's lap. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed one of Yugyeom's hands and pulled them to his head  
"Go on, " he implored,"Touch them."  
Yugyeom's eyes widened at the command. His wrist felt warm and clammy in BamBam's grip, the boy's cat ear centimeters away from his touch. Slowly, he moved his hand and skimmed the edge of BamBam's ear with a finger. Feeling more curious, he moved to roll the tip in between his thumb and forefinger. BamBam's hand left his wrist and he felt the boy inch closer in his lap, pushing his head into Yugyeom's hand. Yugyeom seemed mesmerized by the boy's blonde ears. He traced his fingers along the edge to where they connected to BamBam's skull. Yep, definitely real.  
Yugyeom's hand trailed down from BamBam's ears to his head, gently carding through his soft hair like he would to his cat-form. BamBam purred and pushed his face into Yugyeom's chest. Yugyeom froze in shock. BamBam nuzzled his nose in between Yugyeom's collar bones and made a noise of annoyance, his fingers curling around Yugyeom's thigh as if clawing at it. Yugyeom took a deep breath and willed his panic to go away. Eventually he returned to awkwardly petting BamBam's head. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see his tail for fear of passing out (which he did not do in the first place).  
Somehow, BamBam managed to push Yugyeom down so that he was laying on the couch with BamBam on his chest. BamBam refused to let Yugyeom stop petting him until the cat boy dozed off on top of his owner. Yugyeom was at a loss. His cat was now a person, and that person that was a cat is now sleeping on him, which is weird, unless BamBam was a cat...again. Because Yugyeom is not an intimate person. It took him forever to get used to Jackson, but with BamBam it was a whole new level of awkward. Maybe it was just the shock of finding out his cat isn't just a cat, or the fact that he's petting and sleeping with another person.  
Wait.  
Yugyeom looked down to see his hand absentmindedly stroking BamBam's back. He gasped and pulled away, glaring at the offending hand.  
"Ugh," Yugyeom groaned, "I need to sleep this whole thing off..."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yugyeom awoke to a ball of fur sleeping on his stomach. He sighed in relief, believing that it all was a dream. Then, reality came knocking (but really it was Mark). He gently lifted the sleeping cat off his stomach and cradled BamBam in his arms. He stood up and trudged over to the door and opened it with one hand (while the other attempted to balance the cat).  
"Hey I was just checking on you two, but it seems you guys cleared it up," Mark smiled, looking between Yugyeom and BamBam.  
" What?" Yugyeom looked at Mark like he had sprung cat ears.(Haaa...oh the irony)  
"Last night? BamBam...human. any of that ring a bell? " Mark drew out his words, obviously implying something.  
" Wha-Crap it wasn't a dream, "Yugyeom cursed and dropped BamBam out of his arms.  
The cat jolted awake when he hit the hard ground. He jumped about three feet in the air before dashing away and hiding underneath the coffee table. He eventually poked his head out and saw that there was only Mark and Yugyeom in the vicinity. Deeming it safe to go out in the open, BamBam crawled out from under the coffee table and jumped up on the couch, making very disgruntled noises along the way.  
"So is that a no?" Mark winced as he watched the scene before him.  
Yugyeom pushed the other out of the door and into the hallway before following him and shutting the door.  
" Hyung, what the hell am I supposed to do with him?" Yugyeom asked desperately.  
Mark's face contorted to something akin to anger,"What do you mean what are you supposed to do? What do you mean 'what am I supposed to do'? He's your damn cat Yugyeom! Whether he looks like it or not!"  
"You might not get it, but you are literally his everything, " Mark seethed, "He's completely dependent on you. He's got nowhere to go if you get rid of him. So, Kim Yugyeom. Why don't you tell me exactly what you're going to do? "  
Yugyeom reeled back in shock. He had never seen Mark this angry. Granted he hadn't known him for long, but this was new. But what shocked him more was what he was saying. Ok, so maybe he didn't consider where BamBam would go, but that doesn't make his situation any easier. He can't keep him just out of pity.  
" Excuse me Mark. But I did NOT sign up for this! I went to the pound to get a cat! Not a person! What the hell am I supposed to do with a person, Mark? Last I checked people aren't animals! I can't just keep him holed up in my apartment. I can't keep feeding him cat food! Heck. He doesn't even have his own clothes! So sorry if I'm at a loss here!" Yugyeom whisper-yelled furiously.  
Mark blinked up at the younger silently, then he sighed and dropped his head, hands coming up to rub at his temples.  
" Alright, alright. I'm sorry, ok? This is just a bit different from my perspective, " Mark apologized quietly.  
" That's another thing,"Yugyeom pointed out,"How are you so chill about this? How long have you known?"  
" You two didn't talk at all, did you?" Mark asked.  
" No. We had some weird impromptu petting session and then he fell asleep," Yugyeom informed exasperated.  
" Ok. Let's go inside and we can talk for real,"Mark rolled his eyes and pushed past Yugyeom to open the door.  
When they entered BamBam was nowhere in sight. The two boys looked around the living room, calling the cat. They did not find him there, even after looking under all the furniture. So, Mark went to look in the kitchen while Yugyeom went to search his room. Expecting to find a cat, Yugyeom kept his gaze on the floor. That was until he heard small whimpers coming from his closet.  
"BamBam?" Yugyeom asked hesitantly.  
He walked slowly towards the closet and pulled the door open. BamBam sat inside, his back to the door, legs tucked into his chest in the corner. He was wearing Yugyeom's black t-shirt and the same pair of boxers as yesterday.Yugyeom bit his lip and sat down behind the catboy.  
" BamBam, are you ok?" Yugyeom asked kindly though anyone could hear the nervousness in his voice.  
" You want to get rid of me, " BamBam replied, voice surprisingly strong.  
" What? No-" Yugyeom tried to defend himself but he was cut off by an angry catboy.  
" Don't even try lying to me!" Bam hissed,"I heard you! I freaking heard you! I don't have cat ears for the fun of it!"  
BamBam's head shot up as he glared at the human. The hairs on his ears and tails bristled and he had an unfamiliar glint in his eyes.  
" You don't want a person. You want a freaking cat! Well sorry if I'm just a nuisance now!" He continued, body shaking with either anger or sadness.  
" BAMBAM JUST SHUT UP!" Yugyeom finally shouted over the quivering catboy.  
BamBam immediately curled away from Yugyeom and pressed as close to the closet wall as possible, hiding behind a pair of slacks hanging in the back.Yugyeom sighed and pushed the clothing away.  
"Sorry I yelled. You wouldn't let me talk. I didn't want to scare you,"Yugyeom apologized, "But I'm not just going to dump you off on the street or the pound. We're going to work this out ok? I'm sorry that I freaked out on you. It's not everyday your cat turns out to be a person," Yugyeom joked quietly.  
" It's just a lot different having a person to take care of that a cat. I don't even know you, really, "Yugyeom confessed.  
" But you do..."Bam piped in quietly,"You know I like to sleep on your bed and in the laundry and that I like being petted when we watch TV. I like fish and always steal your food when you're not looking and your clothes too. I actually really like this shirt by the way and-"  
" OK, ok I get it," Yugyeom cut him off with a chuckle,"But I need to know about human BamBam, not cat BamBam. "  
"What's the difference? " BamBam asked looked down and picked at the hem of Yugyeom's stolen t-shirt.  
Yugyeom was blown away by the creature in front of him. How could he go from sassy, 'I hate the world' as a cat to the angry lion of a catboy and now a nervous, shy wreck? Yugyeom didn't know whether to coo or cower. Honestly, he was was just going with the flow now. He caught on quite quickly that a close mind would get him nowhere.  
" I'm the same BamBam no matter what I look like," BamBam looked up with shimmering eyes.  
Yugyeom was not freaking out. Nope. He totally knew how to respond properly to a bipolar catboy. That's totally what he graduated college for.  
"Ah, yeah...I guess,"Yugyeom nodded awkwardly.  
"Yugyeom! " Mark's voice drifted through the room,"Did you find him?"  
Yugyeom looked up, remembering why he had gone looking for BamBam in the first place.  
"Yeah!" Yugyeom shouted back,"Give us a sec!"  
Yugyeom stood up and held out a hand for BamBam to take.  
"Mark hyung wants to talk to us and clear things up for me, I guess. Come on. Let's go."  
BamBam sniffed one more time and wiped his face with his hands before grabbing Yugyeom's hand and the taller pulled him up.  
"Ok, but I got a few things to say too,"BamBam glared menacingly (but Yugyeom just thought it was adorable).  
"Ok."


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha hey, sorry this took so long. Turns out my university blocked AO3 so I had to wait until I went home to update

Mark sat on Yugyeom's couch chewing on his lower lip. Yugyeom and BamBam returned to the room and Mark stood up, concern showing on his face. 

" Everything good?" He asked hesitantly. 

" Yeah, we're good for now. We still have some things that we need to talk about, though." Yugyeom replied and threw an arm around BamBam's shoulders, squeezing the boy reassuringly. BamBam blushed a little at the contact and hid his face underneath his bangs. Yugyeom couldn't help but smile when he felt BamBam's ears flicker on his neck. The catboy nestled closer to the large, warm human with a feigned upset face. Mark smiled at the sight of the two boys.

“ Anyways, we need to have a serious talk. " Mark gestured for the two to sit on the couch, while he settled for sitting on the coffee table. "Ok, so to start I'll tell you about my job. I run a free online cat-person help site. It gives a history of cat-people and all the scientific paraphernalia. It also has resources for new cat-person owner's,” Mark made air quotes around the word ‘owners’, “Most don't like the idea of a human owning them so we call it borders or housers.”

“Ok?” Yugyeom nodded. He was unsure of where this was headed but decided to just let the older boy continue his speech.

“So anyhow, there's this whole scientific reasoning that you really need a biology degree to understand, so I won’t go so much into detail about that. Basically there’s a special gene on the Y chromosome that carries physical traits of cat-people: it s the furry ears and tail and all that jazz. Then there’s also a gene for the X chromosome that’s more of an internal factor. However, when in cases of two X-linked genes a.k.a catgirls. From that logic it would seem that every boy witht the specific gen on the X chromosome would be a catboy. However, science likes to fuck people up, so that’s not true. Somehow you have to have two genes in order to fully manifest the physical traits, hence BamBam. He’s got both the double XY sexlinked gene, whereas I am only half. I Have the X-linked gene from my mother, but only one so i don't show the physical traits,” Mark paused for a moment to gauge Yugyeom's reaction and catch his breath, “You got all that?”

“Yeah, sure,” Yugyeom nodded vigorously before it turned into shaking his head, “Nope, not at all, but if you keep going I’ll pretend like i understand.” 

“OK…” Mark frowned, “So, yeah. There’s science. Um, so basically you now have both a cat and a man living with you…”

“BamBam, a man?” Yugyeom raised a thick eyebrow.

“Yes, man!” BamBam hissed, “I’ll have you know that I’m full grown! And the name’s actually Kunpimook!”

“That’s another thing. Mook’s lived pretty much all his life as a cat, so the whole human thing’s kind of a new experience,” Mark explained.

“SO can he turn back into a cat at will?” Yugyeom questioned.

“That’s up to him,” Mark responded, giving a concerned look to the blonde next to Yugyeom. 

BamBam was silent, refusing to answer the question by turning his head to face away from the other two. MArk sighed and ran a hand through his red hair while Yugyeom looked on in confusion.

“Yug,” Mark started carefully, “All I can really advise you on right now is this: this is a new experience for th of you, ok? I need you to be patient and understanding with him, a lot of his human stuff will be new to him. And Mook, do the same with Yugyeom. Trust me when I say this, but you aren’t the easiest person/cat to please.”

BamBam scoffed and rolled his eyes. His tail flickered in annoyance as his ears twitched angrily. Yugyeom nodded again, feeling much like a bobble head with all of it during their conversation.

“So, I’m going to leave you two tonight,” Mark announced, rising from the coffee table with audible refusals from both parties, “I’ll be back tomorrow. Lord knows you’ll need me. I’ll bring some clothes for Mook, so you'll just have to survive the night for now. “

“But I still have a ton of questions!” Yugyeom squeaked,, “Like what food does he eat? Doe he know ow the bathroom works? Can I leave him alone when I’m at work?”

Mark groaned tiredly, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” 

Mark smiled at yugyeom and placed a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder before leaving or the door. He stopped short though and turned to face Yugyeom, “And I’d probably call in sick tomorrow…”

With that the red head exited the apartment, leaving Yugyeom with the sassy blonde. Yugyeom sat in silence for a moment, millions of thoughts still rushing through his head, when a flash of yellow broke him out of his stupor.

“H-hey! Where are you going?” Yugyeom called out to the catboy that had just left the couch beside him.

“Didn’t you hear MArk- hyung? It’s time to go to bed.” Kunpimook rolled his eyes as he proceeded to make his way to Yugyeom's bedroom. 

“But that's my room!” Yugyeom's complaints fell on deaf ears as BamBam had already closed himself inside the human male's room. He would probably be snuggling down into Yugyeom's mattress and would not let the owner join him (not that Yugyeom wanted to). So, Yugyeom sighed and prepared himself for a long night on the couch.

Hopefully I'll get this all down one day...

\------------------

Yugyeom woke up the next day to a phone call from his boss. The older man relayed onto his that due to the power outages, several computer systems were down and needed repairing so Yugyeom wouldn’t need to come in until they were fixed. Yugyeom thanked the heavens for more time to sleep until he remembered exactly why he needed it. He thanked his boss groggily before hanging up. 

Yugyeom stretched for a moment before deciding to get up and check on BamBam. Yugyeom sluggishly made his way to his bedroom door, placing his hand on the door knob and testing to see if it was locked. Surprisingly, it was not. Yugyeom opened the door silently, paking his head in and squinting against the light. All he could really see was a puff of blonde hair snuggled underneath a mountain of very comfortable looking blankets. Very comfortable. Yugyeo’s tired mind seemed to push him closer to the bed. Paying no attention to the boy already sleeping there, Yugyeom fell onto the bed and instantly fell back asleep.

The next time Yugyeom woke up was because he was having trouble finding oxygen. Yugyeom jerked away but found that only his head oved as his body was seemingly held down by a weight. Then, something tickled his nose and when he opened his mouth to speak all he got was a mouthful of fur. Yugyeom now jerked completely awake. The weight that he previously been on his chest fell to his lap as he spit out cat-hair. The weight, or otherwise known as BamBam, yowled and jerked up as well, unfortunately connecting the top of his head with the bottom of Yugyeom’s chin.

“Ah!” Yugyeom ad BamBam both shouted in pain.

Yugyeom’s hands flew to his now bleeding tongue while BamBam rolled on the other side of the bed, holding his head. Yugyeom tested the amount of blood on his hand to see if the wound was bad. Seeing how there was not much it would seem that it wasn’t terrible, but he glared at BamBam all the same.

“Yah, what do you think you’re doing?” BamBam hissed as he sat up, one hand still rubbing his head.

“Mwe? Thwis is my behd!” Yugyeom responded, his fingers blocking himself from speaking well.

“I was here first!” BamBam argued, “Plus I was so comfortable! Why’d you go and wake me up like that? Aish...my head hurts.”

Yugyeom stared back at the catboy in disbelief, “Alwight, we’re going to haf to set thome grownd rulfs.”

BamBam only blinked back at the statement, tial flitting across the rumpled comforter beneath him, “I cannot take you seriously like that.”

“ITH’S YOUR FAULT!”

 

\---------------------------------------

After making a trip to the bathroom and doctoring both his tongue and BamBam’s head (which was literally nothing), Yugyeom sat BamBam down in the kitchen so he could keep an eye on him while making breakfast.

“Don’t you have to work or something?” BamBam asked boredly as he toiled with the mouse cat toy Yugyeom had placed in front of him as entertainment. The catboy glared at it indignantly as in jingled across the table top when he pawed at it, only to pull it back in front of himself and repeat the process.

“The power outage broke some stuff at work so I get the day off,” Yugyeom replied as he plated two omelettes and threw his pan into the sink.

BamBam hummed nonchalantly as Yugyeom placed a plate in front of him. Yugyeom yawned and handed the boy a fork before digging in. BamBam looked at the utensil in distaste, eyes glaring from the fork to Yugyeom.

“It’s a fork. Never used one?” Yugyeom raised an eyebrow and raised his own, showcasing the correct way to use the utensil.

“I’m not stupid!” BamBam hissed back, “Of course I can use one.”

The catboy stabbed his omlette with the fork angrily. Yugyeom laughed through his own omelette.

“Stho toushy,” Yugyeom mumbled through a mouthful of food.

BamBam hissed again and began angrily eating his omelette only to freeze once the food touched his tongue. Yugyeom watched in wonder as BamBam’s eyes opened to comical proportions. His ears stuck up straight and his tail went rigid. BamBam quickly swallowed his food before shoving another forkful into his mouth, practically inhaling it. He had torn through the plate in not time, leaving nothing, not even crumbs.

“I take it you liked that,” Yugyeom smiles in between pieces of omelette, “I put some tuna in there. Figured cats like fish, right?”

BamBam nodded vigorously with a content smile on his face, “I take back all calling you a sad excuse for a human. I like you now.”

“I’m not sure if I should be happy or angry,” Yugyeom sighed, “And when did you call me that?”

“Last night while you were sleeping on the couch,” BamBam answered simply, “I also stole your sock and hid it in that boxy thing over there.”

Yugyeom glared at BamBam, having not noticed the missing article, and followed the cat boy's arm to where he was pointing.

“YAH! THAT’S MY XBOX!”

\-----------------------

Yugyeom sighed broken heartedly as he sat BamBam on his couch later. The blonde catboy was wearing one of Yugyeom’s oversized shirts and a pair of his boxers ( looking very adorable) so much so that Yugyeom had to remind himself that he was angry.

“Ok, Bam-I can call you that right?” Yugyeom suddenly asked.

BamBam just rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Ok, so Bam. You know I’m kinda new to this and I have a feeling this is your first time living with other people. So let’s just talk about some rules to follow so we don’t end up killing each other, fair enough?” Yugyeom Offered from his spot on the coffee table.

“Sure,” BamBam replied with a yawn.

“Ok, good. I’ll start,” Yugyeom nodded, “First- the bed is mine. MINE. I’m too freaking tall to be cramped up on a tiny couch, so if you want a happy Yugyeom, you must relinquish my bed.”

“No way,” BamBam argued, “Your bed’s more comfortable! You didn’t mind when I was a cat!”

“I didn’t mind because you only took up a square foot of space!” Yugyeom rebuked, “There’s not enough room for both of us.”

“Fine! I’ll sleep on the couch,” BamBam hissed.

“Great, now your turn,” Yugyeom prompted.

“No more people coming over,” BamBam stated.

“What?”

“Mark can come. I like him, but not that Jackson guy- he smells like a dog and he’s too touchy,” BamBam grimaced.

“Jackson’s my best friend. He’s going to come over whether you like it or not,” Yugyeom replied, “Pick a different rule.”

BamBam glared at Yugyeom before continuing, “Fine then, I want my own clothes.”

“Deal,” Yugyeom immediately agreed.

“BUT, you have to take me shopping to get them. A whole day. No complaints, just bag carrying,” BamBam continued with a determined look on his face.

Yugyeom grimaced at the idea of being the catboy’s pack mule for the day, but ultimately it was only fair. The kid needed his own clothes too, “Fine, but you’ll have to wait until Sunday. And can you lose the ears and tail or something?”

“I can try,” BamBam sighed, “But this is more comfortable.”

“We’ll figure it out Sunday then. Now- don’t stick things where they don't go!”

Yugyeom and BamBam spent the rest of the morning discussing their living terms. By the end of the conversation, Yugyeom as feeling a lot less nervous about taking care of the boy. Sure he was high maintenance, but there had to be some good qualities in him (not to mention BamBam was pretty cute, not that Yugyeom would ever admit it out loud). Eventually, the two settled for watching some tv together, BamBam cuddled up in Yugyeom’s lap while the talled stroked his head and ears. Yugyeom would look down occasionally and think, ‘Maybe this will work out.’

\------

Yugyeom woke up Sunday morning surprisingly rested. The bed felt so warm, almost as if it were embracing him. Yugyeom sighed and lifted his arm up to run at his face, or at least he tried. There was a heavy weight holding him back. Yugyeom opened his eyes and looked down to find BamBam snuggled up to his arm. The catboy hissed quietly when Yugyeom tried to dislodge hours arm from the blonde’s grasp. 

“Bam...I thought I told you to go sleep on the couch!” Yugyeom whined and shook his arm harshly.

“It's too stiff,” the boy mumbled into Yugyeom’s upper arm.

“My arm is too stiff!”Yugyeom countered angrily, “I can't feel it, so let go!”

BamBam hissed angrily as Yugyeom’s shoulder bumped into his head and let go, rolling off the bed.

BamBam sat pitifully on the floor with his legs folded up beneath him. Only his knees were visible underneath the fabric of his (read Yugyeom’s) shirt. BamBam yawned and rubbed at his eyes. Yugyeom was thankful that he was awake enough not to coo at the boy (that would probably end in cat scratches). Yugyeom yawned himself, sitting up and moving his arm around to get the blood to flow back. Yugyeom ran a hand through his hair ad looked over at BAmBam, who had not moved from his spot on the floor. The catboy had fallen back asleep, his head resting on the edge of Yugyeom’s mattress. Yugyeom slid out the opposite side of the bed. He quickly went to the bathroom to prepare for the day. When he came out, BamBAm had slipped off the bed and was lying full on the floor. Yugyeom sighed and walked over to the sleeping catboy, nudging him slightly with his foot.

“Bam, wake up, Bam. I’m going to make breakfast then we’ll go to the mall,” Yugyeom informed with a frown, “Hey, wake up!”

One of BamBam’s blonde ears twitched slightly but the boy didn’t move. Sighing, Yugyeom bent over and picked the gangly boy up (with slight difficulty). He carried BamBAm out into the living room and dropped him on the couch before walking to the kitchen. 

When Yugyeom had finished cooking (yet another tuna omelette), he walked out to the living room to get BamBam. He practically dragged the lethargic catboy to the kitchen and shoved him into a chair.

“The faster you eat, the faster we can go to the mall,” Yugyeom tempted the catboy as he placed the food in front of him.

BamBam perked up immediately, not even waiting for Yugyeom to hand him a fork before he began digging into the omlette.

“H-hey! You don’t have to rush that much!”  
\-------------------------

If Yugyeom’s hair hadn’t already been dyed grey, i probably would have changed on it’s own. 

He had managed to safely drive himself and BamBAm to the closest mall. The catboy apparently couldn’t get rid of his ears, so Yugyeom covered them in one of his beanies. Luckily BamBam’s frame was pretty close in width to Mark. The elder hybrid(?) let them borrow some clothes for the trip so that BamBAm wouldn't be swimming in Yugyeom’s clothes. However, it would seem that Yugyeom’’s luck would end there. BamBam, much like his feline body, was impossible. He practically darted all over the place. He never listened to Yugyeom (or his cries of despair). 

At what seemed like the 500th store, Yugyeom dropped down into the seated area outside the store’s fitting room and unceremoniously dropped all of BamBam’s previous purchases (lies, Yugyeom bought them all, freaking cat) on the ground beside him. BamBam quickly trotted off into one of the empty stalls to try on his 12th pair of skinny jeans and some sparkly suit jacket that Yugyeom had no taste for. Sighing, Yugyeom ran a hand through his hair and looked at his reflection in one of the external mirrors.

“Aish, I already look like a grandpa,” Yugyeom whined, flopping sideways to half lay on the long seating unit.

“Maybe it's just me, but I don’t think the grey hair is helping,” BamBam literally popped in, sticking his head outside the cubicle.

“Yah, do you have clothes on?” Yugyeom growled, not bothering to lift his body from the seat.

BamBAm just rolled his eyes and stepped out of the cubicle, dressed in the new clothes and walking to look at himself in the mirror, “How do I look? Nevermind, I look good in anything. Maybe you should just dye your hair?”

Yugyeom almost didn’t catch that last part. He had a growing habit of losing concentration as soon as the catboy talked about clothes...or himself. Yet, he did listen this time and really began to consider the bo’s suggestion.

“I won’t have time for a while, unless you can occupy yourself in a hair salon for an hour while I get it dyed,” YUgyeom yawned.

“Hmm,” BamBam pursed his lip and turned in a circle before walking back to the fitting room. He came back out a minute later and tossed the clothes over Yugyeom’s face, “It might be time for a little catnap.”

\-------

Yugyeom looked at his reflection in awe. He had forgotten what it was like to live with black hair. He used to think it was boring and plain. The entirety of Korea had black hair, how was he going to stand out amongst them? However, that was when he was twelve, short, and ugly if he said so himself. Not that he was completely confident in his looks now, but he'd say he looks pretty dang good. If anything, his newly dyed black hair only reinforced it.

 

"Black hair really suits you sir," the hairdresser stated as she finished the last bit of styling.

 

"Hah," Yugyeom chuckled awkwardly, still a little shocked at his look, "It's been a while."

 

"Well, I'm sure your boyfriend will agree with me," she added, eyes glancing to the mirror to BamBam napping in one of the chairs of the waiting area.

 

"Oh, we-we're not, um," Yugyeom stuttered, a bright blush risiing to his cheeks.

 

The woman giggled quietly, "It's ok, I won't call attention to you two. Don't worry, I don't care about people's preferences."

 

Yugyeom gulped and decided that it would be better to just go along with it rather than try and explain himself. Honestly he wasn't sure if he could do that either.

 

"Ah, thanks."

 

Soon enough she had finished and sent Yugyeom off to the front to pay with a wink and a thumbs up. Yugyeom blushed and handed his credit card over to the landy at the front. She compliented his style as she rung him up and wished him a good day. Yugyeom did the same before quietly shuffling over to the sleeping cat boy.His beanie had shifted and was very close to revealing an ear so Yugyeom gently wiggled it back into place. He figured that the gesture might look a little too loving to the patrons at the salon but he couldn't care less; he just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

 

"Bam," Yugyeom whispered, "Hey, wake up. It's time to go." 

 

Yugyeom sighed when the catboy stayed very much asleep. He reached over and shook the other's shoulder quickly, "Bam, let's go."

This time the man seemed to stir awake. The catboy stretched a bit, causing his borrowed t-shirt to ride up a smidgen. Yugyeom bashfully reached over to hold the shirt down while BamBam blinked at him in cnfusion.

 

"What are you doing?" BamBam asked, hand falling to shift the beanie on his head.

 

"Your shirt..."Yugyeom trailed off before he realized something, "What the heck, Bam stand up."

 

"What?" BamBam repeated, this time narrowing his cat-like eyes.

 

"Just do it," Yugyeom whispered trying not to call attention to themselves. 

 

BamBam rolled his eyes but did so anyways, looking at Yugyeom with a hand propped on his hip.

 

"What the crap," Yugyeom whispered, "How the hell did you manage to grow in the past hour?"

 

"Hmm?" BamBam hummed in confusion and looked down at his feet before up at Yugyeom, "Woah, no way. Since when did you shrink?"

 

Yugyeom groaned and grabbed BAmBAm by the hand and picke up their items with the other. He dragged the confused cccatboy to the closest department store and shoved him into a fitting room, following close behind. Yugyeom positioned BamBam infront of a mirror and then stood next to him.

 

"Oh my god, you totally grew," Yugyeom gasped, "You used to be level with my shoulder, now you're like...nose height!"

BamBam scoffed at the nose height remark, "Well, animals do mature faster..."

 

"But all the clothes I JUST bought you!" Yugyeom whined.

 

"I'll just have to try them on again," BamBam sighed, before a glint sparked in his eyes, "Maybe buy some more."

 

"Please no," Yugyeom cried, legs buckling and falling against the mirror.

 

"Oh, hey, I just noticed your hair...it looks pretty good."

 

"End meee..."

Two shirts, one jacket, and ten pants exchanges later, Yugyeom was trying to drown himself in his own couch while BmBam happily sat on the floor eating tuna straight out of the can.

"I'm full grown," Yugyeom muttered bitterly, "Tell that to my wallet..."

 

"I don't get why you don't like this stuff," BamBam munched happily, "It's amazing."  
Yugyeom simply replied with a muffled groan.

 

BamBam shrugged and continued eating. The apartment was silent save for the clinking of BamBam's fork against the taluminum tuna can. Yugyeom was dead tired and couldn't feel his feet. The couch was warm and the room was silent enough to lull him into sleep.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Yugyeom woke up to the distant sound of an alarm tone. The sound unfortunately got louder and louder, as if it were coming closer.

 

"Yugyeom! Make it stooop!" Came the yowling of a very distressed cat boy soon after.

 

Yugyeom jerked up and soon regretted it. His back and neck were stiff from falling asleep on the couch and his body ached from all the shopping yesterday. The alarm sounded right next to him and he flinched, looking aside to see BamBam cringing and holding his phone right not to his ear. The caboy's tail was erect and fluffed and his ears were standing tall. Yugyeom groaned and swatted the device away from his ear before sliding a finger over the screen.

 

"There it's off...shit-" Yugyeom cursed looking at the time and date on the lock screen of his phone. 

 

He was going to be so late for work. Jumping off the couch and pushing the cat boy aside, Yugyeom sprinted to his room and quickly changed into his business attire. Yugyeom ran a comb through his hair quickly before sprinting back into the living room to grab his wallet and keys.

 

"I gotta get to work. Stay here. Don't break anything. Don't leave the house. Keep the door locked. If you need anything call Mark, ok? Bye!" Yugyeom quickly scratched BamBam behind the cat ear then ran out of the apartment leaving BamBam standing there in mild confusion.

 

"Kay, bye?" BamBam said to the closed door


End file.
